


Things Gellert Grindelwald Wishes He'd Said To Tom Riddle

by feverbeats



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-12
Updated: 2010-06-12
Packaged: 2017-10-10 02:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You read about the rags-to-riches princess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Gellert Grindelwald Wishes He'd Said To Tom Riddle

  
You are one of the greatest warlocks of our time, Tom Riddle. You are so great that even Albus Dumbledore fears what you might do, although I think he is mistaken to be so concerned. Perhaps he has forgotten the old stories we used to read.

I haven't forgotten them, Tom Riddle.

_There was once a handsome, rich, and talented young warlock . . ._

Yes indeed, and once upon a time he swore he would never be so weak as to fall in love. So he cut his own heart out and locked it away, deep in an enchanted crystal casket. Are you following? Don't look so disgusted, I know it's awful. To cut away a vital piece of yourself just so you'd never be harmed.

And I assure you, the heart _is_ vital. That was your first mistake, and the warlock's.

Anyhow, one day he overheard a servant—well, in the version I was always told in Bulgaria it was a cook, but no matter—mocking his apparent inability to find a wife. He was a very proud man, and afraid of appearing weak, so he set out to find a woman worthy of him.

Eventually he found the right woman, of course, and he wooed her as best he could without a heart. Have you ever wooed a woman, Tom Riddle?

But the maiden thought him heartless. In order to prove her wrong, he showed her his heart in its crystal casket, beating a dead beat and covered in long, dark hair.

Does your heart still beat, wherever it is? Does your soul?

The maiden was horrified, so the warlock returned the heart to his chest. The rest is history, and I think there's an implied rape in there somewhere, and some really disturbing bits where he licks her heart, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that they both died.

And now your hairy heart is beating out of your chest with fear, because the one thing you never counted on was love saving the day. You're a bigger fool than I, because I loved wholeheartedly and well, and in the end, I profited by it.

So kill me if you will. Kill a hundred people, as I have no doubt you plan to. But you should know who happily ever after applies to, and it's not people like us. It's not even people like Albus, although your confusion in thinking him to be some sort of white knight opposing you is amusing.

Albus would understand the joke of your hairy heart, but you don't, because you never read Wizard fairy tales. You read about the little girl who is eaten by the wolf, and you seem to have learned well from that. You read about the prince who overcame all odds to save the day, and I suggest you watch your back for him. You read about the rags-to-riches princess.

Well, let me tell you this, princess: Wizards don't tell those fairy tales. Theirs are exactly as bloody and exactly as strange, but they also tell you things about our world, things you are helpless without. If you want to know what a Horcrux really is, don't read books about dark magic. Read fairy tales.


End file.
